FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is in the field of image-magnifying viewing devices (i.e., telescopes) which can be used both in the day time to obtain a magnified view of a distant scene, and which can also be used at night or under other conditions of low ambient lighting in order to view such a distant scene. The view of the distant scene is magnified, and at night is also intensified or amplified by use of an image intensifier tube to provide a visible image when the scene is too dark to be viewed with diurnal vision. Accordingly, this invention relates to telescopes and other such viewing devices which may be used both in day and at night for observation and surveillance.
The present invention also relates to laser range finding apparatus and method. Such laser range finding apparatus and methods ordinarily project a pulse of laser light into a scene. The laser light pulse illuminates objects in the field of view and is partially reflected from at least one object in the scene whose distance from the observer is to be determined. In order to select this one object, the device may include a reticule and the laser light pulse may be of "pencil beam" configuration. The reflected portion of the laser light pulse is detected at the device, and the transit time for the laser light pulse to travel to and from the object is used to calculate a range to the object using the speed of light as a measuring standard.
This invention is also in the field of telescopic weapon aiming sights which provide a user with an aiming reticule, and which include provisions for bore-sighting the relative position of the reticule on a scene to the trajectory of a projectile. In other words, the telescopic device allows adjustments to place the reticule image on the viewed scene at the location where a bullet or other projectile will strike at a particular range.